rc5781

I started getting a clicking sound on every crank as I was riding. This can be due to numerous things, I know. First I sprayed teflon lubricant that I use for my chain into the bottom bracket and let it sink in with gravity and some crank spinning. Voila, the noise went away. (I've done this twice). So it got me to thinking, instead of disassembling and greasing the bearings on my rear and front hubs, can I just spray them periodically with the same teflon lubricant (included with nifty little wd-40 style skinny plastic insert spray guide) to keep them "greased" and "maintained"? Am I stupid?

biker128pedal

Stock up on it. Teflon is a PFAS and may or will be regulate away in a few years. Not the toxic PFAS but still a forever one.

Koyote

I don't know if you're stupid, but I do know that you are supposed to use grease on bearings.

grumpus

Better to drill the hubs and bottom bracket to fit grease nipples, then you have the same ease of application but you can also use an appropriate lubricant - most spray lubes are too light to protect hubs and bottom bracket bearings from wear.

Andrew R Stewart 

Treating the symptom, with a short lived therapy, and avoiding the cause is not how I would want to be treated. Andy

rc5781

Unless the "cause" is too expensive to treat, and the "treatment" works until said problem can be replaced by a thrifty enough solution...

SoSmellyAir

How does the lubricant get onto the bottom bracket bearings themselves? Aren't you just lubricating the interface between the inner bearing race and the crank shaft?

rc5781

I'm just telling you what I did and what happened, twice. My bottom bracket is: SUNTOUR BB10-XCT-SQS-113-CBT CARTRIDGE (68mm x 113mm, Cartridge bearing, Square taper, Solid cromoly axle, English threading, M8 bolts included)

squirtdad

a replacement BB is like 13 to 16 bucks. can of teflon lube 8 to 10 bucks, which one is the thrifty long term solutions?

SkinGriz

It depends.

In an industrial setting it’s not unheard of to use triflow to get through the shift. Or Moly chain lube until next scheduled service.

Then put the appropriate grease in the zerk fittings when time allows.

The idea of drilling and tapping for a zerk fitting on a BB shell is interesting.

SkinGriz

Good to know.

Kontact 

Bicycles have been with us longer than cars. Throughout that time, riders have suffered the same maintenance issues, flat tires, chain wear, worn bearings, etc.

May I ask how you became the mechanical genius that has finally figured out solutions to the age old problems that your fellows have been working on all this time?

rc5781

I'm just trying stuff out and sharing what has worked for me. I ride practically everyday, unless the ground is wet, about 17-20 miles in the suburbs and on my local bike trail. Been doing it for almost 12 years now.

Also, I buy cheaper but quality mountain bikes. So I'm free to experiment with maintenance. Currently riding a 27.5 inch Gravity Basecamp and LOVE it (even though I bent the frame a little by overtightening my rear wheel, lol). Got that bad boy for about $350, pre-pandemic.

Kontact 

You're coming to a forum that is full of individuals with decades experience and essentially suggesting that they are the idiots for not having realized all these "sensible" solutions that you managed to come up with.

So; thanks. I'm sure aerosol bearings will be the new hot industry trend now that someone with a brain has thought this through for all of us.

rc5781

I guess if you pay thousands of dollars for your bicycle, it makes you a little cantankerous. I forgive you...

Kontact 

I didn't and I don't.

What makes me cantankerous is the bizarre attitude that so many people have that the material world around them was designed and executed by idiots who couldn't see the "common sense" solutions that some guy with a Huffy came up with over the weekend.

Literally billions of people have owned bicycles. Yet you have "realized" what they were all missing? Hubris.

rc5781

Fine...I'll let you have the last word...

squirtdad

)
I've done this twice suggests it is not a long term good approach, but a short term hack (which are not bad per se, but lead to issue down the road if proper maintenance is not done)

veganbikes

Please stop using thrifty to mean expensively cheap. Fixing a problem so things will last longer and work properly is the thrifty thing to do, trying desperately to keep it hanging on and working improperly or without the bare necessities to then have to potentially replace more stuff or just cause more issues down the road.

Generally spraying a bike is not good as you can get lubricants and oils on your braking surfaces and if you are truly thrifty you would use a drip lube you can use less of and also refill the bottle (potentially).

In the case of bearings use the proper grease for them unless you are racing as a professional with team mechanics and sponsorships you should do thing properly so your bike will last longer. Replacing a bottom bracket especially square taper could be pretty low cost or get a more expensive one with better seals and such and it will last and last and last and spin more smoothly and maybe might have replaceable bearings or something like that.

smd4

The dude asked a simple question. He didn't say he was a "mechanical genius." Lighten up.

maddog34

yes.. if you're interested in eventually completely filling your frame with Grease......

SoSmellyAir

This may be due to the American obsession with the maverick, e.g., how Alan Mulally left Boeing to save Ford.

shelbyfv

Not necessarily, but.... Though you've been a member for a number of years, something has prompted you to pop up and begin offering ill considered advice in a number of threads.

rc5781

I'm not "advising" anyone. I'm just sharing things that have worked for me. I like RIDING my bike, not MAINTAINING it. People have different approaches to things.

shelbyfv

OK but issuing a PSA isn't too far removed from giving advice. Folks don't seem to have found much value in the tips but maybe that can change.